Shower head



May 31, 1938. E. PRICE ET AL I ,9

SHOWER HEAD Filed Nov. 14, 1936 //v VEN To Q 5 EM/L P2 ICE h/lLL IAN A.#15 me Y Min/J ATTORNEYS 7 Patented May 31, 1938 UNITED, STATE: PATENTOFFICE Emil Price and William A. Pflster, Loo Angeles,

Application November 14, 1936, serial No. 110,889

4 cums. (01. 299-141) This invention relates generally to bath flxturesand more particularly to shower heads.

An object of the invention is to provide a shower head which isstructurally characterized by its simplicity, small number of parts,inexpensiveness of manufacture, and ease of assembly and disassembly,all while functioning toproduce a needle shower with maximum efliciency.

Another object of the invention is to provide a shower head embodying anextremely simple form of adjustment enabling the character 'of the jetto be conveniently varied with practically no effort, .from an intenseneedle shower to a softer shower of greater volume and larger diameter,and the desired adjustment effected and maintained without the necessityof any extrane-' ous or complex means subject to corrosion by the actionof water.

'A further object of the invention is to provide a shower head which inaddition to its extremely simple adjustmentfor varying thecharacter of Vthe discharged jet, is further adjustable to enall by a simplemanipulation of the head eliminating any disassembling operation.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists in thecombinations, arrangements and functional relationships of elements asset forth in the following specification and particularly pointed out inthe appended claims.

In the accompanying drawing,- Figure 1 is a view showing invertical'section the shower head adjusted to deliver the maximum needleshower;

Figure 2 is a view similar to Figure l and illustrating the shower headadjusted for flushing it of any foreign substances from the water;

Figure 3 is a view of the shower head in plan partly broken away;

Figure 4 is a transverse sectional view of the shower head taken on theline 4-4 of Figure 1;

Figures 5 and 6 are enlarged fragmentary sectional views showingpositions of the shower head for an intense needle shower and a softershower, respectively.

Referring specifically to the drawing, the invention comprises a body 13composed of a water intake section l0 and a water discharge section II,the former being an open ended cylindrical tube against an internalannular shoulder l2 of which swivels a spherically shaped enlargement l3on the end of a water supply pipe H. The opposite end of the section I0is internally threaded at l5 to receive an externally threaded retainingdisk l6 having openings lGa therethrough for the free flow of water fromthe pipe, and co-acting witha flat coil spring I! which urges a ringgasket l8 into sealing engagement withthe enlargement l3 yet permits thesprinkler head to be tilted to and sustained in'various angularpositions relative to the supply pipe H.

The water discharge section II is also in' the form of an open-endedtube, and telescopically receives the section lllfor axial adjustmentrelative thereto. The axial movement of the section II onto the sectionID or towards the'supply pipeto one extreme position which constitutes aflushing position of the sprinkler head, is definitely limited byco-acting annular shoulders l9 and formed, respectively, by an annularflange 2| on one end of the sectionlll, and an annular recess 22 in thecorresponding end of the section I I.

The internal annular wall portion 23 at the other and discharge end ofthe section II defines acircular outlet with which a control member Cco-acts, the wall portion 23 having axially extending andcircumferentially spaced grooves 24 of V-shaped cross section. Thecontrol member is also adapted to co-act with the grooves 24 in definingrestricted orifices in' the other extreme position of adjustment of thesection ID on the section II, wherein the sprinkler head is adapted toprovide a powerful needle shower.

The control member C is in the form of a disk 25 having an axial shank26 terminating in an externally threaded plug 21 provided with openings28' for the free flow of water therethrough, theplug being screwedintothe internal threads l5 of the section III to rigidly support thecontrol member from the section In in co-axial relationship thereto.

The plug 2'! is provided with an external flange '29 forming an annularshoulder 30 against which a cupped packing ring 31 of leather or otherflexible materialis seatedand secured to the. disk by a retaining ring32 forced over the threads l5to abut the packing ring which latterthereby provides a water-tight joint between the telescopicallyassociated sections In and II yet permits axial adjustment of the lattersection.

Thedisk 25 of the control member C has an axially extending peripheralportion 33 of a diameter slightly less'than that of the internal annularwall portion 23 of the section II soas to define a narrow annular waterdischarge passage between the two. The portion 33 which extends overapproximately one-half the thickness or the disk 25 merges into anoutwardly flaring peripheral portion 34, the maximum diameter of whichis slightly in excess of that of the internal annular portion 23 all asclearly shown in Figure 5. Thus, said flaring portion 34 is adapted thedisk so that water can only discharge from the section through theorifices as defined in this position of the control member by thegrooves 24 and the flaring portion 34 of the control member.

The section II is provided "externally with a knurled flange 3i adaptedto be grasped to axially adjust the section in the manner and for thepurposes to be described in the operation of the sprinkler head, whichis as follows:

With the pipe it connected to a source of water supply under pressure,and with the section I l axially adjusted to the extreme position shownin Figures 1 and 5, water flowing through the sections it and II will becompelled by the disk 25 to discharge only from the grooves 24 and willthus provide high velocity jets in an annular form. The jets in issuing"from' the grooves 24 will strike the flaring portion 34 of the disk 25and will be deflected outwardly at a slight angle sufficient to preventthem from commingling, so as to provide a highly eflicient needle showerof small diameter which is particular- 13 desirable in a bath tubinstallation wherein a wide angle shower would cause water to beprojected over the sides of the tub and onto the floor.

Under the pressure of water within the section II, the packing ring 3|will be expanded against the internal wall of the section withsufficient force to effectively seal the joint between the sections l0and II against leakage as well as to set up sufiicient friction tomaintain the section II in any selected position of axial adjustmentrelative to the section II. This functionins is particularly desirableas in an intermediate position of the section II shownlin Figure 6, asofter shower of larger volume is obtained by the opening of the annularwater passage between the internal wall portion 23 of the section II andthe axial peripheral portion 33 of the disk 2!. The expansion of thepacking ring 3| in this manner by the water pressure in the section IIprovides an extremely simple means for retaining the section I I in anyposition of axial adjustment against the actionof gravity when thesprinkler head is depending from the water pipe I as shown in Figures 1and 2, yet permits the axial adjustment of the section manually duringoperation of the shower head, to any position desired.

Should foreign substances from the water accumulate in the body and/orclog the grooves 24, it is only necessary to axially adjust the sectionH to its flushing position shown in Figure 2 and wherein the circularoutlet 0! the section II defined by its internal annular wall portion 23is entirely clear of the disk 25 so that a rela tively large annularwater passage is provided between the two through which any accumulatedsolid particles in the water are readily flushed from the section II. Itwill thus be appreciated that in order to clear the interior of thesprinkler head, it is unnecessary to disassemble the head or resort tosuch an inefllcient and timeconsuming makeshift as the use of a sharpinstrument to open clogged spray orifices in a spray plate or ring as isthe practice with sprinkler heads of constructions heretofore devised.

What is claimed is:

1. A shower head comprising a water intake section; a water dischargesection telescopically receiving said intake section and axiallyadjustable thereon; said discharge section having an internal annularwall defining an outlet and provided with circumferentially spacedgrooves; a control member supported by said intake section and having adisk portion adapted to co-act with said internal annular wall byclosing said outlet in one extreme position of axial adjustment of saiddischarge section for the discharge of water jets from said grooves toproduce a needle shower; and a packing member carried by said intakesection for expansion by pressure of water in said discharge sectioninto engagement: therewith, so as to seal the joint between the sectionsand set up sufllcient friction therebetween to retain the dischargesection in a selected position of axial adjustment on the intakesection. j

2. A shower head comprising a water intake section; a water dischargesection telescopically receiving said intake section and axiallyadjustable thereon; said discharge section having an internal annularwall defining an outlet and provided with circumferentially spacedgrooves; a control member supported by said intake section and having adisk portion adapted to co-act with said internal annular wall byclosing said outlet in.one extreme position of axial adjustment of saiddischarge section for the discharge of water jets from said grooves toproduce a needle shower; and means on said intake section coacting withthe discharge section under the action of water pressure therein, toseal the joint between the sections and set up sufitcient frictiontherebetween to retain the discharge section in any selected position ofaxial adjustment on the intake section.

3. A shower head comprising a water intake section; a water dischargesection telescopically receiving said intake section and axiallyadjustable thereon; said discharge section having an internal annularwall defining a large circular outlet, and provided withcircumferentially spaced grooves; a control disk; a shank on the disk; aperforate. plug on the shank threadedly secured to said intake sectionto support the disk co-axially of said outlet for co-action with saidinternal annular wall in producing a needle shower by water jets issuingfrom said grooves in one extreme position of axial adjustment of thedischarge section; and a packing ring carried by said plug for co-actionwith said discharge section under the action of water pressure there in,to seal the joint between the sections.

4. A shower head comprising a water intake section having a controlmember; a water discharge section telescopically associated with andaxially adjustable relative to said intakesection; said control memberand discharge section having means co-acting to provide for. showers ofdifferent characters, according as the discharge section is axiallyadjusted; and means on one;

